【Gonzo | Adult Movies Online】

This is Gonzo | Adult Movies Onlineone of those good news/bad news situations: Bad news for Roadhog fans, good news for all other Overwatchplayers.

Roadhog's signature move -- a grappling hook attack that pulls a single foe out of position and into his Scrap Gun's line of fire -- is a little bit overpowered. Has been for some time. And now, at long last, Blizzard is going to fix it.

It's hard to discuss what the changes will be without first looking at what's so very wrong with Roadhog. That hook works just a little toowell, cutting through the air and ignoring the basic physical laws of the universe as it travels.

Roadhog hooks have been known to travel through walls and other obstacles in their relentless pursuit of a moving target. The hook doesn't track its targets, but the hitbox -- an invisible space at the point of impact that determines whether a hook hits or misses -- is roughly the size of Overwatchhero Soldier: 76 (seriously).

Much of the feedback from Overwatchfans on Roadhog's hook has suggested tweaking the size of that hitbox. A smaller one would cut down on the instances of heroes being hooked from around corners, and would also require more precise aim from Roadhog players.

Here is an excellent explanation of the hitboxes in Overwatch-- Roadhog's hook comes up at around the four-minute mark -- from YouTuber TheWarOwl. It's a little out of date now, but the Roadhog analysis still applies (and it remains a great tutorial on what hitboxes are in general).

Interestingly, Blizzard's view of the Roadhog balance issues don't include his hook's hitbox. The proposed changes, which should be live on the OverwatchPublic Test Region (PTR) soon, tweak the hook's behavior based on Roadhog's and his target's line of sight.

"The line-of-sight check to see if a hook should connect or not is now checked from Roadhog's position, instead of the hook's position," Blizzard designer Geoff Goodman wrote in an Overwatchforum post. "This basically means the hook can't connect to targets that Roadhog himself can't see."

The update will also implement a second line-of-sight check that comes into play once the hook makes contact. Not only will Roadhog no longer be able to snag unseen foes, he'll also lose his catch if line-of-sight is broken before they're reeled in.

"There is a new persistent line-of-sight check back to Roadhog once the hook has landed. If this check fails, the hook breaks off and returns to Roadhog," Goodman wrote.

"This means if you get hooked and move out of LOS quickly (either you dashed, were falling, were pushed, etc), the hook will now break early and not pull the target."

To be clear: once Roadhog's hook connects with a target, that target is stunned. A freshly hooked Genji wouldn't be able to dash out of view to save himself. Butif Roadhog hooks a Genji in the midst of dashing and momentum carries him out of sight, the hook's connection is broken.

On top of those changes, Blizzard is also tweaking Roadhog's ability to shift the final landing place of a target he's hooked. This more advanced strategy involves hooking a target and then quickly turning or strafing in one direction or another. That act of moving changes where the target ends up.

For such a devastating ability, Roadhog's hook is very broken..

Some players have figured out a way to exploit this so that Roadhog hooks a target, quickly performs an about-face, and deposits the target behind Roadhog's original position. We weren't able to find any video examples, but Goodman cited it as a possibility.

With the coming PTR update, that will no longer be an option.

"The hook victim will now move in to the position directly in front of Roadhog, rather than just a straight line towards him. There is a cap on how far 'to the side' you can be pulled, so you can't just hook someone, spin 180, and dump someone off a cliff," Goodman wrote.

He goes on to admit that the changes "will likely make Roadhog a bit weaker" but adds that additional tweaks will be considered as the team evaluates the initial update.

You might be wondering why the hitbox isn't changing. Goodman doesn't address that, but it's likely intended to keep Roadhog's focus on his tanking role. Demanding more precise aim from players -- which is what a smaller hitbox would do -- runs counter to Roadhog's innate accessibility.

Reducing the hitbox size also wouldn't necessarily solve the whole problem. By focusing instead on how line-of-sight influences the hook, Blizzard is fixing legitimate issues without changing how it feels to play as Roadhog.

That said, these changes may not go far enough toward "fixing" Roadhog. They make his hook less of an outsized threat -- which is good -- but there's nothing that addresses the inconsistent pull distances that players run into when hooking different heroes.

Again, we turn to the tape. YouTuber Ginger put together a great video that breaks down the inconsistency of Roadhog's pull distance.

The short version: some heroes are pulled closer than others -- seemingly arbitrarily -- and this can neuter Roadhog's ability to follow up a well-placed hook with a kill shot.

Advanced Roadhog players have discovered that the ability to "pull" hooked heroes in one direction or another can counteract the inconsistent pull distance. Doing so has the advantage of more consistently pulling a hooked target into what Ginger adorably refers to as the "cuddle zone."

Roadhog's hook works best when it's used in tandem with his more lethal tools, specifically his Scrap Gun and melee attack. Most players that use him know to follow up any hook with a shotgun blast and/or melee strike.

Here's a detailed look at how hook-pulling works, compliments of YouTuber Game Jammin. The video is based on a text breakdown of the move that was first shared on the Overwatchsubreddit by SuprDog.

It remains to be seen how the upcoming PTR changes affect this strategy. On its own, the hook's pull distance is inconsistent. But right now, players have an admittedly advanced strategy for ensuring that every target lands in the cuddle zone.

The update doesn't completely remove Roadhog's ability to pull hooked foes to one side or another; it just limits how much he can turn them around. All of this admittedly applies to high-level play only, but that's where balance tweaks tend to matter most: in the professional gaming space.

Thankfully, Blizzard's OverwatchPTR exists. The changes -- and any others that might still be coming -- won't go into the live game just yet. They'll be put through paces on the PTR and then further tweaked (or not) as needed.